Month: May 2014

Huh. I agree with Europe on something.

Well, that doesn’t happen every day:

Europe demands driverless cars be driveable

…Both BMW and Daimler AG, which owns Mercedes-Benz, have been working on autonomous vehicle concepts for years, such as BMW’s self-driving 5 Series.

However, spokespersons for both companies have admitted to Wired.co.uk that marketable products in this category are a long way off. The reason? Simply put, it’s because the legal framework that would enable the sale of such vehicles is more or less absent.

Continue reading Huh. I agree with Europe on something.

A quick poll: which would be worse?

Regarding Barack Obama’s apparent default excuse for everything – to wit: I had no idea that this was going on, and I’m just as shocked and angry as the rest of you about it- which would be worse:

  • That he’s lying?
  • Or that he’s telling the truth?

Think about the answer before you reply: the more I did, the less sure I was of mine.

The NYT asks, “How old is too old to be President?”

…and gets the answer back, It depends.  Is my party going to run somebody old?

Before the 2008 presidential campaign, for example, Democrats were much more likely to raise concerns about electing an older presidential candidate. A February 2007 Pew poll showed, for instance, that 60 percent of Democrats said they would be less likely to support presidential candidates in their 70s — far more than Republicans (42 percent) and independents (43 percent).

…Democrats are now starting to feel more positively toward older candidates: The new Pew poll found that only 44 percent said they would be less likely to support a presidential candidate who is 70 or above, a decrease of 16 percentage points from the 2007 poll — a drop that Pew called “particularly notable” relative to the smaller decreases observed among Republicans (from 42 percent to 32 percent) and independents (from 43 percent to 34 percent).

Continue reading The NYT asks, “How old is too old to be President?”

Come, I will conceal nothing from you.

I took most of the day off.  We took the kids to the library.  We went on a drive. I played a remarkable amount of video games (The Secret World has sucked me in, partially because it’s a cheerfully messed-up game world whose writers have the same tastes that I do, and partially because the only way that you can interact with other people in the game is positively).  So, you know, lazy days and all of that.  It’s all cool.

…Actually, the temperature’s actually just about perfect.  I like June, which is what we’re about to enter.

Three things about this Bowe Bergdahl / Taliban prisoners swap.

Short version:  Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl was captured by the Taliban in 2009.  Today, Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel reported that the US government had made arrangements via the government of Qatar to exchange five Taliban terrorists held at Gitmo for Sgt. Bergdahl. The swap was duly made and Sgt. Bergdahl is now on his way home.

I say the following fully respecting the fact that Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl*and his family/loved ones might have an extremely understandably different opinion on the situation:

  1. The people we exchanged for Sgt. Bergdahl will end up running terrorist operations in Afghanistan if we’re lucky, and Afghanistan and abroad if we are not. And they will likely be doing it considerably sooner than a year from now.
  2. The Taliban will step up their kidnapping campaigns, because from their point of view said campaigns have been proven to work.
  3. Democratic, liberal, and progressive partisans will freak if you point out either #1 or #2 to them.  That particularly smarmy freaking that the more obnoxious examples do when they think that they’ve got the moral drop on you.

Continue reading Three things about this Bowe Bergdahl / Taliban prisoners swap.

Some good analysis here of the Mississippi primary…

…over at AoSHQ. A taste:

Cochran’s lead per this poll is entirely out of the third congressional district. You’ll notice it has a high concentration of “big vote” counties. McDaniel keeps things tight by edging Cochran in the largest-by-number-of-voters district, CD4. But he will need to do a lot better in counties that may favor the Senator, like Harrison and Jackson.

Short version: there are a lot of places in Mississippi that don’t actually bother to come out for primaries. McDaniel is drawing support from areas that have that quirk. Not insurmountable, by any means, but something to watch for, next Tuesday.

Moe Lane

PS: I am barely managing to stay out of this primary, and let me assure you: the NRSC isn’t making that bit of forbearance easy.

More on that DCCC ad buy.

To wit: said DCCC ad buy…

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has reserved $43.5 million in television airtime in dozens of targeted House districts this fall — a signal the party is attempting to play defense and offense in a challenging midterm cycle.

The money is split across 36 districts, including 17 pickup opportunities, according to a DCCC aide. More districts and more money could be added to the reservations as the cycle progresses, the aide said.

Continue reading More on that DCCC ad buy.